April 6, 2014 1:35am EDTApril 5, 2014 11:59am EDTWhen it comes to dealing with the shifting public perceptions that are commonplace in the NBA, 19-year veteran and fellow Duke alum Grant Hill understands what Kyrie Irving is going with in Cleveland.Kyrie Irving(AP Photo)

Two months ago, I happened to be chatting with NBA great Grant Hill, now an analyst for NBA TV. At the time, Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving was going through his first bout of controversy, with rumors of locker room dissent and favoritism circling, and the notion that he would not sign an extension popping up in a published report.

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"It is part of it, every great player is going to go through that," Hill said. "You are going to go through that criticism, you are going to go through people taking shots at you. You can look at the great ones of the modern era, they experienced it as well. For a young guy like Kyrie, this is probably the first time he has ever had this kind of heat or criticism. It is tough to keep working through it."

That drew an angry Twitter response from Irving, who said the rumors were making him "sick to my stomach" and, "There's no such source as 'Kyrie's camp,' nothing but nonsense."

Hill, a 19-year NBA veteran, is someone who can empathize with Irving. In fact, many players can. It's almost a pattern in the NBA — young player comes into the league and plays like a star, everybody loves him, but then when the team does not start winning fast enough, fans and media pluck the player apart and his public perception tumbles.

It's especially the pattern for No. 1 overall picks, like Irving. We've seen it with No. 1 picks John Wall and Blake Griffin just before him, and with Dwight Howard, Vince Carter and, yes, Hill himself.

Go back to when Hill was drafted in 1994, and remember that he was the youthful darling of the league, pegged as the heir to Michael Jordan and earning the coveted spot as a pitchman for McDonald's. He averaged 19.9 points as a rookie, and in his second season, he boosted his stats to 20.2 points, 9.8 rebounds and 6.9 assists. He was second-team All-NBA that season, and first team the following season.

But Hill's numbers plateaued there and, worse, so did his Pistons. In six seasons in Detroit, Hill's teams made four postseason appearances and failed to escape the first round each time. Much like with Irving, whose Cavaliers are on track to miss the postseason for the fourth consecutive year, Hill began to be seen as a player who could pad his own numbers, but wasn't doing much to help the team win.

It seems like a fickle game, playing to public perceptions, Hill said. You might not change the way you play, but that's not going to stop outsiders from changing their opinions of you.

"In the NBA, that's the epitome of it, but also what makes it difficult," Hill said. "Player, coach, general manager — you can't relax. Things turn. Competition requires you to stay sharp. The Coach of the Year last year was George Karl, and he was fired. The sport we are in, you constantly have to meet and surpass expectations, because you are constantly being evaluated by people. If you don't succeed, you get traded, you get fired, you get criticized. That is what we sign up for."

Hill said it was coach Doug Collins who prepared him for the criticism he would take. After all, before Hill in Detroit, Collins coached Michael Jordan in Chicago — another guy who had big-time numbers, but was criticized early on for not winning.

"When I first came into the league, I had intense conversations with Doug Collins, and he said this league balances you, it humbles you in some respects," Hill said. "I think he was right. After 19 years, you realize that's part of the job, you are going to be evaluated and you are going to be criticized — it is not all glamour."

Ultimately, Hill said that Irving must maintain his focus on the positive, even if he is fending off rumors all the time. He needs to understand it as just another part of the job.

"It's what we do," Hill said. "At the end of the day, you would not trade it in, the good outweighs the bad."